Reading Plays

The Experience Every individual will have a different experience. Why? Our “experience may be affected by our social and political views, as well as by our gender, our age, and possibly also by our ethnicity” (DiYanni 1173). There is no wrong experience when it comes to plays.

Interpreting Drama Interpretation is not the same as our feelings and experience with it. “involves essentially four things: observing, connecting, inferring, and concluding” (DiYanni 1174). 1. Observing = paying attention to the details 2. Connecting = taking all that we observe and making inferences about the things we see. 3. Inferring = we come to conclusions about the details that we see. 4. Concluding = we, as readers, arrive at value judgments and understanding of what we have read/seen. These conclusions change as the play goes on and we observe more things.

Evaluating Drama A judgment or opinion that one reaches. Evaluation is based on: 1. Culture: Our own and that of the play 2. Morals: That which we see as “right” or “wrong” 3. Aesthetics: That which is pleasing to the reader It’s very individual - can change over time as we take in more exposure in life.

Danish legend: the flag fell from the sky on June 15, 1219, to the Danish King Valdemar II, who on that day defeated Estonia in battle (this would make it the oldest national flag in Europe still in use). The first recorded use of this flag was in the 1300s. SETTING: *Denmark, England, France, Germany Flag: "the cloth of the Danes”